Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-08
PETER PATTERSON.

per, and being honest and plodding,
worked his way up till he had a business
Of his own, ceased to think OF little Lydia
Marsh, the sweetheart who had never for
gotten him, and became a well to do man,
with a stout, easy going wife and a COM
Portable home in an questionable quarter
Of the city.
In due course Of time Mrs. Peter Pat
terson left her comfortable home forever.
In the twenty long years of her married
life she had been ~childless, and yet never
regretted it. She had, In her want Of
other anG nobieT occupation, eaten too
much and walked too little; SO one day
she was found ~lifeless or her parlor floor,
from an attack Of apoplexy.
Now Peter had at least fifty thousand
dollars well invested, and on a lucky day
ne was offered thirty thousand more for
the stock and custom OF his store, no
longer a mere tailor's shop, but q great,
profitable clothing establishment. He
sold out his business, invested his money,
and went back TO birmingham, where he
was born, to try n change Of air. Here
he found his old sweetheart, Lydia Marsh,
still alive and unmarried.
Lydia had grown tall, thin and gray
since he knew her; but she was still meek,
simple, afiectionate and very glad to re-
new her acquaintance with Peter, who
had found but few whom he remembered
left in birmingham, and was glad of one
cordial welcome. Now, Lydia Marsh,
having enough money to live on as single
women do live in the country, and little
enough to do in her house, where a bound
girl and n cat constituted all the family,
had taken violently to the temperance
cause. 1t il an odd thing that almost ell
the Old maids and widows in q country
town do become devoted either to the
work OF temperance or the aus Of for
eign missions. There may be plenty Of
white heather at their door; their next
%neighbor may be a Grunkard and abuse
his wife and children; but these specialties
do net interest them; they take to glitter
ing generalities even as ducks to water,
and find a pleasant excitement in figuring
as officers Of an organization. The mar
ried women, with husbands and children
to provide for, have ''other fish to fry"
and with q few sad and painful exceptions
adhere to their womanly duties in that
sweet, safe corner by the household fire."
made for good women.
Now Peter was dull and lonesome In
his inn, and it became a matter of course
with him to spend his evenings with
Lydia. The emiab,e enthusiast piled him
with her own notions and achievements
Til he became interested deeply both in
her and in her work. The old love, like
Aaron's cry rod, budded end b~lossomed,
and nc made u formal proposal to Lydia,
who modestly accepted him for better or
worse. BY this time Peter was extremely
bored By birmingham quiet and dizziness,
lie was by no means DESTROYS TO spend
the rest Of his days there. His dyspepsia
was better, and lie discovered that Lydia
was an excellent cook and h~ousekeeper;
consequently he persuaded her 10 set IN
eerly day for tie wedding, and fastened
back TO the city 10 provide a new home.
OF coulre, with his moderate means, ne
had to buy q house II a block; but then
there are certain conveniences in that;
your house Is warmer than a single man.
sion; your neighbors cannot make more
outside show Il YOU do; n block, like
death, reduces nen to the came leve.-
apparently, ut least; and whether you
wish to have a Characteristic dwelling or
not, you can't lave il, except within.
Lydia gasped q little at the iCea Of 'goin'
to York to live. 1t was a great elevation,
and birmingham people bristled with envy
but Lydia rather dreaded it. However,
Peter soothed her with stories of city con-
veniences; q kitchen where the water,
both hot and cold, came into the Sink at
her pleasure; no lamps to Gil o. trim; no
weekly butcher to wait and stay at home
for; all tie reeds and Injuries of life close
at hand; unlimited meetings and temper
| ance lectures; and afiiliation awaiting her
| with ill TIE ,uomen'S unioL and female
leagues known to her hitherto as distant
glories and powers through the newspa-
pers. What a change from the one feeble
society in birmingham, where she had
only been a member,-one of three--th6
! other six were all officers.
So in due time Lydia was installed in
her new home, along with the willing
bound Girl and the unwilling cat, and rev.
eled in the glories of a city house with a
basement kitchen, a parlor with red plush
furniture and n blue tapestry carpet, or
namented with large and f~orbidding por-
traits Of Peter in his neatly parted wig and
Sunday coat, vis-a-vis with the first Mrs.
Peter, round and snug in a black velvet
gown. 1t is as cheap to be painted in vel.
vet as in calico. This state apartment
was kept dark and still. The square
room behind it was the living room, and
both Peters and Lydia's old furnishings
were s%prinkled sparsely over the rest OF
the house.
They had very little society, for Peters
social development had always been
small; but Lydia found enough to do in
her new house and her evening meetings;
and Peter joined a mems temperance So
ciety, who held their meetings in the same
building where Lydia's branch Of the wo-
mems league held theirs, 30 that 1t was
remarkably convenient for them to go and
come together.
Deprived Of any other outlet for his
busy nature, Peter soon became a promi-
nent person in the NJ. II. A. Circle, No. 4.
He rose to the rank Of secretary, and was
then elected vice president. Lydia had no
such honors showered on her; naturally
modest, she was afraid to speak before a
crowd of strangers. But while her sensi-
tive womanhood led her to keep silence,
she was a regular attendant and a liberal
contributor, so the ''sistering' did not
frown upon her.
Peter, however, was rs active as a blue
bottle 1y; he talked and prayed and
worked with vigorous zeal; he button
holed Indifferent men, n awoke their
interest; he hauled more than one youth
from the saloons where he was beginning
to slide down the easy descent of degra-
dalton, and helped him to stand there
after on his feet; and many a wife, bereft
worse than by death, many a family OF
moro thar fatherless children, blessed tie
good, fussy little man who fed and clothed
H. 81 rN-.-t1,, r1onDad tho 1vy,nRnn